Blog Tour: Bridger by Megan Curd – Review + Giveaway

Today I am having the Traitor blog tour (hosted by A Tale of Many Reviews) stopping by. For the tour I am reviewing the first book in the series, Bridger and offering readers the chance to win one of 19 ebook bundles of Bridger and Traitor (International).

Ashlyn McVean doesn’t believe in fairy tales. That is, until Ashlyn is thrown into the crosshairs of grudges her grandmother created long ago. After finding out she is one of two people able to cross between faerie realms, Ashlyn is faced with trying to understand her abilities, along with navigating a new relationship with her boyfriend, Liam. As if being on a centuries old hit list and dealing with crazed pixies isn’t enough, her new abilities mean trouble for Liam. Knowing her new life puts everyone she loves in danger, Ashlyn must decide what’s most important in her life between friends, family, love, and ultimately, realms.

Starting off very strongly with the death of the protagonist’s father, Bridger quickly takes readers on a whirl wind adventure to Ireland where we found out that folk tales are not always fiction. Although it seemed strange to me that Ash would be willing to make a trip overseas so soon after her father’s death (and without attending a funeral), once she arrived at her destination I was swept up in the story and enjoyed it a lot. The book features a sweet romance and interesting mythology, but is bogged down by a haphazard and sometimes poorly explained plot and murky motivations for some key characters.

Ashlyn is a great heroine to read about because she genuinely cares about those around her and tries to protect them at every turn. I think that Ash’s interactions with Liam were the most compelling part of the story – they seem to just click and it was really nice seeing their relationship develop. Although it began abruptly and progressed rather quickly, I think Liam is awesome and makes a great match for Ash. Her best friend, Reese, on the other hand annoyed me greatly because that boy doesn’t know the meaning of boundaries, and anyways, isn’t openly hitting on a girl, any girl, in front of her boyfriend against the Bro Code. Bad from Reese! With Ash having such positive relationships with her friends and family, it was extremely strange that she missed what was going on with her brother Chris. It just didn’t add up because she isn’t that self-absorbed and I think she should have picked up on it a lot sooner.

I found Ash’s family to be utterly incomprehensible – they allow Ashlyn to travel to Ireland and actively set her up with Liam (days after her father’s death), allow her to be best friends with a faery who is trying to harm her, and generally let her traipse along in ignorance and then are surprised that she ends up in trouble. I feel a lot of the non-sensical drama in the book could have been avoided through communication between family members, especially between Liam and his mother. Similarly, I thought that the death of her father would compel Ash to seek revenge and that her desire to learn all about her heritage would stem from that, but her father’s death is largely forgotten by the second half of the book. I also felt that Ash’s mother played an extremely small role in the story, conveniently popping up when someone needed food or a hostage was required by the plot. I enjoyed the faery lore and wanted to get to know it a lot better, but there seemed to be too many loop holes and convenient exceptions for me to take it too seriously. Also, while Emily is a great character, her weird mystic nature really started annoying me about half way through as more and more bizarre details are revealed about the sweet old grandmother.

Overall, however, Bridger is a lovely and interesting book that I excitedly read in one sitting, and I’m planning to read the sequel as soon as I can. The story is a real gem that just needs a bit of polishing to bring out its shine! Readers who would enjoy faery stories will love this book, and while it is aimed at a young adult audience, it is suitable for readers of any age.

Megan Curd is a graduate of Northwestern College in St. Paul, Minnesota. While having always enjoyed reading any books she could get her hands on, Megan didn’t begin writing until a friend encouraged her to do so while in college. Make sure you check out her website and Facebook page and follow her on Twitter.

You can win one of 19 e-book bundles of Bridger and Traitor graciously donated by Megan. Just click the link below to be taken to my giveaway site, where you can enter through the Rafflecopter form. You do NOT have to be a follower of Speculating on SpecFic to enter.

I’ve never heard of this so thanks for introducing me to a new book/series. Ash does sound like a great MC and I feel like she carried this story for you. I think a lot of YA features dysfunctional families and lack of communication never fails to annoy me!